When the Clone Warsbroke out in 22 BBY, Gi and Barrek continued their intelligence-gathering operations and discovered a Confederacy of Independent Systemsdroid factory in operation on the planet Hypori. Barrek called in a Republictask force to destroy the factory, but the reinforcements were ravaged by orbital mines, and the entire force crashed onto the surface of the planet. Gi and Barrek regrouped with several Jedi survivors. Surrounded by droid forces, Barrek was killed by the leader of the Droid Army, a cyborg called GeneralGrievous. As the remaining Jedi took cover in the wreck of a downed Acclamator-class assault ship and waited for Grievous to engage them in battle, Gi—overcome by fear and the loss of his Master—panicked and rushed out into the open, where he was killed by Grievous.
Gi found himself struggling with maintaining the mental disciplines required for members of the Jedi Order and had trouble controlling his fear on the occasions in which he was required to work independently. The presence of his Master often acted as a stabilizing influence, however, and the pair formed an effective team. Gi and Barrek were often deployed to the Outer Rim Territories to gather intelligence on pirate activity and then counter the threat that it posed.[1]
During the fierce fighting, Master Barrek managed to contact Master Obi-Wan Kenobi, who had recently taken the planet Muunilinst for the Republic. Barrek informed his fellow General of the situation on Hypori before he was killed by Grievous. Without Master Barrek's presence, Gi began to lose his nerve as his self-doubt and fear started to overcome him. From inside the wreck, the Jedi were able to hear Grievous approaching, and Gi was visibly unnerved by the sound and the fact that they were unable to see the cyborg general. As the assembled Jedi waited for Grievous to assault them, Gi panicked and rushed out of the wreckage to face the enemy leader. Grievous appeared from above Gi, landing on the young Padawan and crushing him to death. Grievous went on to battle the assembled Jedi, killing Tarr Seirr and wounding the others.[3] The survivors were eventually rescued by the Muunilinst 10, an elite squad of ARC troopers that had been dispatched from Munnilinst.[7]
―Sha'a Gi, to Ki-Adi Mundi, referring to Grievous[src]
Awkward and full of self-doubt, Sha'a Gi found that maintaining the mental discipline required by Jedi was hard for him. He had difficulty controlling his fear, especially when working independently. Nevertheless, Master Barrek's presence was enough to calm the young man, and the pair worked effectively together. When Barrek was killed by General Grievous on Hypori, Gi allowed his fear to overwhelm him, which led to his death at the cyborg General's hands.[1]
Sha'a Gi was a young Padawan being trained to Knighthood. He was trained to use a lightsaber, despite having less proficiency in the martial skills and combat arts than other Padawans at his level. He wielded a green-bladed lightsaber.[1]
In the audio commentary included on the Star Wars: Clone Wars: Volume One DVD, director Genndy Tartakovsky states that the Human Jedi featured in Chapter 20 was inspired by the character Shaggy from the Scooby-Doo cartoons. This resulted in a similar appearance to that character. Initially, Tartakovsy wanted the Jedi to have more of a high-pitched voice like Shaggy. Still, Tartakovsky realized that the voice didn't fit and became "too goofy." The Clone Wars character was listed simply as "Padawan" in the end credits of the Volume I DVD, but soon received the name "Sha'a Gi" when StarWars.com added the character to its Databank. Since then, Gi has been referenced in other works, such as being a "hero unit" defending Hypori for the Republic in the turn-based strategy game Star Wars: Battle for the Republic released by THQ Wireless for cell phones, Unknown Soldier: The Story of General Grievous, and The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia.
Sha'a Gi was voiced in his single appearance in the Clone Wars cartoon by John DiMaggio,[8] a veteran voice actor known for voicing the role of Bender on the cartoon Futurama.